After all the suspensions, Metta World Peace came to appreciate David Stern

Among the most important developments of David Stern’s tenure was dealing with Malice in the Palace, a combustible mix of race and violence and money and entertainment and everything else Americana.

At the center of the controversy was Ron Artest, known today as Metta World Peace, who was suspended 86 games for running in the stands and attacking a fan. In a 17-year career, Peace was suspended 14 times by Stern. Yet the two — player and commissioner — developed a relationship after Stern retired in 2012, exchanging emails and conducting an interview together for Metta World Peace’s website.

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Metta World Peace understood it was always business with Stern, who died Wednesday at 77 years old, and executed with strength. And that business was building the NBA into a global powerhouse.

“Even when I was in my troubles it was always direct conversations,” Metta World Peace said over the phone just about 30 minutes after news broke Wednesday that Stern died from a brain hemorrhage. “So it was never nothing to get over. He felt what he did was right at the time. I did what I felt was right at the time. And the time passed and we started chatting a little bit. The relationship ended pretty cool.

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Ron Artest, now known as Metta World Peace, is restrained by teammate then-Pacers teammate Austin Croshere during the ‘Malice at the Palace’ brawl. (Duane Burleson/AP)

“All business has to be strictly business. He told me, right when you were becoming one of the faces of the NBA, you just threw it all away. He told me he had to pull my commercials. I had two ESPN commercials, I had two TNT commercials, he told me I can’t have that. He said, ‘I understand if you don’t agree but I got 300-plus other players I have to worry about.’ I respected that. I learned a lot from him from the business side.”

Building the league back up from the Malice in the Palace, which occurred in 2004, was a thorny affair. The NBA was again associated with thugs, and the audience was dwindling anyway in the post-Jordan era.

Stern’s unprecedented suspension of Metta World Peace, the longest for an on-court incident in NBA history, sent a message. Stern also installed a stricter dress code, a move designed to further shift the NBA’s image away from the streets. Initially viewed as controversial, the dress code had the unintended consequence of pushing NBA players to the forefront of the fashion industry. The NBA, as a whole, grew to unprecedented heights following Malice in the Palace on the backs of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James.

In other words, Stern’s decisions were good for business. Metta World Peace came to understand that about his former commissioner.

“(His death) is too early for me, man,” Metta World Peace said. “Prior to 2012, I never talked to David unless I was in the NBA office. After that we started to talk once or twice per year in emails, it was cool to develop some of type of relationship with someone you’ve been through and some business differences with.”